Lighter



` May 25, 1948. A. sZr-:RENYI 2,442,136

`LIGHTER Filed April 21, 1945 Patentecl May 25, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT orificev LIGHTER Andrew Szerenyi, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Application April 21, 1945, Serial No. 589,532

(Cl. (iT-7.1)

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in lighters, such as cigarette lighters, and particularly concerns a snuffer construction in combination with the operation of the lighter cover.

Snuifers have previous-ly been proposed for use in cigarette lighters wherein the snuffer extends over the wick of the lighter when the cover is closed to snuff out the flame. It is particularly desirable that the snuffer should completely enclose the wick in substantially sealed relation in order to avoid partial evaporation of the lighter iiuid. In most cases, however, the snuffer merely performs a-snufling function and does not effect an eiiicient sealing action because the snuffer will not readily fit with other parts of the lighter construction at the wick.

It is an object of the invention to provide a snuifer construction which will readily fit over the wick and a portion of theA wick tube and seal the wick within the confines of the snuffer when the cover of the lighter is closed, whereby to avoid evaporation of the lighter fluid through the wick.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction of this' kind which includes a depressible base cooperating with the snuffer casing, whereby to engage the lower edge of the snuffer when the cover is closed to effect a seal.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction of this kind which is particularly simple and therefore can be incorporated in a lighter construction at low cost, while providing the advantages resulting from the sealed enclosure of the wick A still further object of the invention is to provide a construction of this kind including a friction means operating in conjunction with the cover to retain the latter against free movement where a cover is not a self-closing cover.

With these and other objects in View, the invention generally comprises a cover having a snuffer casing rigidly fastened to the cover top and projecting inwardly from its inner surface, the said casing being opened at its lower end and aligned with the wick tube of the lighter, thereby to surround the upper extremities of the wick tube and the wick upon closure of the cover, the said snuffer construction including a movable base member surrounding the wick tube and resiliently seated to engage and be depressed by the snuffer on closure of the cover, whereby to seal the wick within a confined enclosure.

The structure Ypreferably includes fricticnal means operating in conjunction with the cover to maintain the lighter closed as against the spring pressure of said base member.

The invention will be clearlyfunderstoodby reference to the followingl detailed specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 i-s a longitudinal section takenthrough the upper extremity of a lighterA to illustrate details of a' snuifer construction according tothe present invention.

Figure 2 is a. transverse section taken through the upper extremities of the lighter to illustrate as well details of the frictional means for restraining the cover from free movement.

Figure 3. is a fragmentary rear elevation of Figurey 1,.

Figure. 4 is. a sectionvtaken on the line l-d of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a sectional detail siniilartoy Fig-ure 2 but showing an alternative form of spring means.

Figure 6 is a miniature view of a type of lighter to whichthe construction is particularly well adapted. Referring to the drawings, H1 indicates a-lighter body having a s-.wingable cover Il which in the case of` the present illustration is designed to swing abouty the main shaft l2 which also carries the' flint wheel i3 and the actuating wheel i4 for the flint wheel. It also includes a. cover actuat-` ing member l5 designed to beactuated contemporaneously with the actuating` wheel i4. Such a construction forms the subject matter of my copending application Serial No. 568,244, iii-ed' on December 1E,` 1944-.

Within the connes of the cover and secured to the. upper wall thereof is .a snuifer casing l5- which is designed te pro-ject inwardly of the cover, the lower end of which is open as indicated at I1. The snuier casing le is disposed normally in axial alignment .with the wick tube I8 and is of a diameter substantially greater than the diameter of the wick tube so that it may freely pass the upper extremities of the wick tube when the cover is swung to closed position. Surrounding the wick tube I1 is provided a base member I9 which may take the form of a disc washer having the central opening 2t and also preferably including a downwardly extending skirt or flange 2l. Suitable spring means such as a coil spring 22, is disposed between the top plate 23 of the lighter casing and the underside of the base I9 so that this is constantly urged upwardly towards the upper end of the wick tube. Suitable means is provided to stop the upward movement of the base I9 towards the upper extremity of the wick tube and I prefer, in this instance, slightly to iiare outwardly the upper end of the wick tube a-s indicated at 23e, thus, when the lighter cover II is open, the base I9 under pressure of the spring 22 will assume `a position adjacent the top of the wick tube. However, when the lighter is closed, the lower extremities of the snuier'casing will engage the base I9 just prior to complete closing of the cover II and will depress this base downwardly to the position shown in Figure 1. In this way, the

upper extremity of the wick tube I8 and the wick will be totally enclosed within the snuifer casingw Y so as to seal the wick and upper end of the wicktube, thereby to reduce to the maximum degree evaporation of lighter fluid via kthe wick which takes place constantly to a marked degree in the average lighter construction.

The snuier casing I 611s always held in strict alignment with the axis of thewick tube because the snuii'er casing is rigidly fastened to the cover, whereas sealing ofthe snuier casing around the wick is effectively accomplished each time the cover is closed by reason of theY simple cooperating base member I9,

In order to avoidpartial opening of the cover II which Ymight be effected through the pressure engagement of the snuffer housing IB'and the spring pressed base I9, I provide a friction means which tends to restrain the cover from entirely free Yswinging movemen c c In a preferred friction applying assembly, I prefer to recess the actuating wheel I4, as at 24, and to dispose Within the recess a dished spring disc 25. This is designed to apply pressure against pressure plate 26 in the form of a disc (see Figure 4). This disc is Yprovided with a central opening 21 to t around the sleeve portion 28 of the actuating wheel I4 and is designed to engage a stud VBofV a pressure shoe 30 which is disposed within an opening 3 I inthe windshield 32 or other superstructure of the lighter construction, so that the pressure shoe 30 may frictionally engage the inner surface of a wall of the coverI I. Moreover, the pressurev plate V26 is provided with -a slot or recess 33 into which'a boss 34 may be projected from the-windshield 32 or other superstructure thereby retaining the pressure plate 26 against rotation. Therefore, there is no rotational friction producing action as betweenthe pressure plate 26 and pressure shoe 39.

The pressure applied against the inner surface of the Wall of the cover I I prevents free swinging movement of the cover without actuation thereof, the vpressure being applied not only on that side wherethe pressure shoe `3l) is located, but also on the opposite side, as the pressure shoe tends to pull the opposite wall of the cover against the adjacent parts. Therefore, free swinging movement of the cover is restricted 'and consequently the cover will remain closed against any pressure which may be exerted by the coil spring 22 through the base plate I9 and snulfer casing I6, although it may be opened readily by pressure of a digit of the operators h'and and likewise closed, in the normal operation of the lighter.

lAlternative spring means may, of course, be employed and in Figure 5 there is illustrated a helical convolute spring 35 which engages the pressure plate 26 in a substantially similar man- Y ner to the dished spring disk 25.

g-It will be apparent from the, foregoing that I have provideda simple combination which will Alend to the eiciency of pocket lighters by providing a simple and eiiicient means of conserving fuel by preventing a proportion of evaporation by sealing the wick and upper, end of the wick tube f in a practical manner. Y V

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a pocket lighter including a vcasing having a swingable cover, a wick carrying tube, igniting means for ignitingthe wick of the tube, means for restraining free swinging movement of the 'cover comprising a pressure shoe mounted on the upper part of said casing and designed to engagea wall of said cover, a pressure plate engaging said pressure shoe, means for retainingsaid pressure plate against rotation, and a spring element disposed to exert pressure against said pressure plate whereby to engage said pressure shoe with' said wall of thev cover underV pressure to retain the latter against free swinging movementn Y 2. A pocket lighter as claimed in claim 1 in whichy said actuating wheel is recessed centrally on one side of its sides to receive said spring element and pressure plate. Y

3. A pocket lighter asclaimed in claim 1 inv which said actuating wheel is recessed centrally on one of its sides to receive saidspringk element and pressure plate and in which said pressure shoe is mounted on a wind shield which extends around said wick carrying tube.

Y ANDREW SZERENYI.

REFERENCES CITED The` following references are of record in the I le of this patent: p

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name lDate 1,069,207 Wachtel Aug. 5, 19518 1,746,949 Kollstede 1 Feb. 11, 1930 2,418,295 Florman Apr. 1, 1947 

